Hello, working on a unnamed project and after listening between some friends of mine I decided I really didn’t want to have bars or icons display on the player screen but instead on the backpack. So in short I started working on the whole design but I feel like there are some things that could really branch out and be better.
My category list, the first four, have different designs on them, because I trying out different looks for how selection would seen, and you can see a selection concept on the inventory image for the second shirt. I was thinking about combining some of the selection designs like the 3rd and fourth one but you know I feel like there’s something better.
What do you think could help me make this design better and cleaner?
I’d say the less UI the better, UI is there merely for practical reasons. Design it to be intuitive, in fact if you can play the game without ever feeling the need of UI your a design God.
I’d suggest try reading some UI design docs just to get an idea of what is important and what to keep in mind. Even if you don’t want to use a similar style, just reading about design choices and why things are done a certain way can help. For example here’s Google’s Material design doc Material Design
Obviously touch and swipe motions wont apply to a game’s UI, but making what you can interact with, spacing, how to handle text, subtitles, and layouts is all very relevant.
The simpler the better. I spent 15 years doing Graphic Design and the rule was that you get about 5 seconds (at best) before the viewer will decide to move on ie fancy stuff is hard to read and people get frustrated. Most people however WILL read EVERYTHING they lay eyes on so long as they can read it in that 5 second window. When you’re talking about a game that becomes crucial. You need to give the player a way to take in and evaluate a LOT of information as quickly as possible. Your UI needs to be ultra-lean. I have to be able to figure out how much health and ammo I have in less than a second so I can make a decision on how I need to proceed. I need to be able to get into my inventory and make adjustments while running from… whatever. All of that having been said your choice of font is excellent - clear, concise - EASY TO READ. The background is great, sets all the info apart from the general window effectively without being distracting. The info on the inventory items however may be a bit much. The type is smallish and all of that could, instead, be something that pops up when the player hovers over the thumbnail or (if it’s standard info) it could be info that pops up the first few times the player picks up the object (since it might be the same every time he picks that type of object up there would be no need to keep cluttering up the screen with it every single time). The idea (or at least my philosophy) is to go with the minimum amount of info. You need a health bar/attributes bar AND the related number values, you need ammo counts for what is loaded and what is stored in inventory, you need some visual representation of items in the inventory. The question is ‘What don’t you need?’.
Thanks for replying with an open opinion about my UI. I’m going to take into account what you said and try to work out a way to do the following without making it a chore.
Nice UI! I’d be partial to trying to condense the categories a little, having too much organization can make the UI a bit too “clicky” Also would consider replacing the category names with unique icons that are intuitive!
So I decided to make the item information display on the right hand side when you click on the item (which will highlight Orange) and I’m also wondering which of the selections seem best. IMO I like the third one, with the white background but it also feels like it may be out of place to some. However, that’s the whole point of this thread, is to iron out those issues with your opinions.
I’ve also decided to move the players information to be below the main HUD, that way you can see how you are without switching back and forth between tabs. This now leads to consider that I should think about a skill tree for the character part, sort of like an RPG where some things can grow over time with the use of items. Still this is a horror game, so those little changes will only sharpen so much to help survival. Probably increase hearing or increase stealth. Maybe when you run you won’t be heard as easily.
Soon enough I’ll be working on the journal portion and the weapons, which may or may not have customizable attachments because it really won’t be military gear. So far everyone’s input on this has affected how I’m working on it and design future UI’s. Thanks.
Thank you, and I actually been told to try doing Icons, but considering what Kenn said earlier I’m not too sure, plus those icons would need to be rather big and I don’t want to be too bulky. However adding icons to left side of the text I wouldn’t mind to add a bit of specific detail. The categories I know are a bit one too many so if you could recommend a list of categories that would help. I’m not to sure how to summarize the Food and Drink together. I may even use Gear and Ammo together.
Ex: Gear would contain your PRIMARY and SECONDARY (Small Arm or Melee) with your ammo count (Ammo Box Displayed Underneath), while some of the gear like Binoculars, Compass, and Map will be in a top or bottom section like a hot bar. Which I may actually set up to be a hot key list…I dunno.
EXCELLENT! Keep at it! That’s a wonderful solution! Now I feel like, if I needed to, I could use that inventory quickly and not get hung up like in some games. I’m calling you out Borderlands! Love the game but ****, scrolling through that inventory can take an hour when it’s full. And you never need it unless it’s in a hurry. LOL
I feel your pain, it was an amazing game but when it came to the inventory it is a horrible mess that isn’t even efficient for a controller. Ugh, wish there was an inventory mos like SkyUI from Skyrim.
You have too many different fonts, sizes, and spacing. You need to unify those fonts.
For the HP/hunger/thirt meters, are you going to have those part of the in game hud? If you do, you should probably keep those in the same location in both the UI and the menu.
Your border varies in size, it should be consistent.
The gradients and bloom are over done.
Does inventory and info really need their own labels? They are pretty self explanatory
Consider putting the most important info on the inventory page, you don’t want users to have to click on each food to know how much it helps. Just a simple +10 HP would be nice, and a warning if it’s going to expire soon (like a red border or sorting them to the top of the list).
